In Brief:The account for MetaKing Studios’ BLOCKLORDS (official site), which now posts under the BLOCKLORE name, confirmed the studio is shutting down its medieval strategy MMO and rebranding.Taking its place is “a node-based canvas for AI generation” that folds concept art, character consistency, video and editing into one workspace.The game launched on Steam on March 31, 2026, following seven-plus years of development and a $15 million raise. Its LRDS token is currently worth around $1.15 million in market cap.BLOCKLORDS is being wound down. In a post on X, the game’s official account — rebadged as BLOCKLORE — revealed the closure and said the team is redirecting its efforts toward an AI generation tool.”BLOCKLORDS is now BLOCKLORE,” the post said. “We are closing the game. But don’t worry, we’re launching something even bigger.”
Huge news, folks:BLOCKLORDS is now BLOCKLORE.We are closing the game. But don’t worry, we’re launching something even bigger:What we built instead is a node-based canvas for AI generation. Concept art, character consistency, video, editing, all connected in ONE workspace.@BLOCKLOREView on X ↗
How the same post described what comes next: “What we built instead is a node-based canvas for AI generation. Concept art, character consistency, video, editing, all connected in ONE workspace.”No date for the shutdown was given. The announcement was silent on when servers switch off, the fate of assets held by players, and the studio’s plans for LRDS. Nor did it mention pricing, a launch window or a waitlist for the new canvas product.Four months after the Steam launchMarch 31, 2026 was the game’s Steam debut, with MetaKing Studios credited as both developer and publisher. A listing also exists on the Epic Games Store.Players weren’t impressed. The Steam rating sits at “Mostly Negative,” where just 35% of 65 user reviews are positive.The studio was still pushing patches and making commitments this year. Developers conceded that shuffling battle squads around was clunkier than it ought to be, and pointed to a major update in the works.The token was already thinLRDS carries a market cap near $1.15 million and sits at #2728 on CoinGecko, with about 54 million tokens in circulation out of a 100 million maximum supply. A 10-year release schedule and lengthy vesting cycles are still documented in the project wiki.Some exchanges had already started pulling away ahead of the news. Coinsavi announced it was removing LRDS — alongside MAIGA, TRN, PLU and DATA — and cut off withdrawals at 8:00 UTC on July 20, 2026.The AI turn started in 2024This pivot to AI generation wasn’t a snap decision. An AI agent named Elisa Revard was unveiled by the studio in late 2024, followed by an AI roadmap in February 2025 badged “Age of Intelligent Heroes.”Under that roadmap, players would construct their own in-game agents to manage trading and farms, joined by autonomous AI heroes and generals in a battle mode called Battleborne. What those agents did was to be logged on Lordchain, a Base L3. A dedicated site, blocklords.ai, hosted the agent work.The studio also acknowledged leaning on AI-assisted tools for certain 2D art in the game’s narrative segments, with developers checking and polishing the results.What’s being closedWork on BLOCKLORDS dated back to 2018. MetaKing expanded past 100 staff spread across 20 countries and positioned the title as a grand strategy MMO in the vein of Age of Empires or Crusader Kings, where players began from varied social backgrounds and amassed wealth via warfare or taxation. Traits carried down the generations through a dynastic system.Backing came in the form of a $15 million raise led by Makers Fund and BITKRAFT Ventures, with Delphi Digital, Animoca Brands, Shima Capital, WW Ventures, Spartan Group and Huobi Ventures joining in. A partnership disclosed during development saw Polygon Labs provide the scaling infrastructure underpinning the player economy.Outside star power drove the marketing. An exclusive character fronted by UFC champion Michael “The Count” Bisping led 1,500 Bisping Warriors.Those who pre-registered for early access were able to claim a hero for free. At the time, the studio billed BLOCKLORDS as the first web3 MMO.Since March, the review count on Steam stands at sixty-five.
